Do You Still Hate Me?

7. Rumors

Charlie's POV

When I got home, I went to my room and buried my face in my bed, a habit of mine when something exciting happens. My face flushed red as Ash came to mind. Lately, he's been acting strange, or maybe I've been thinking strange thoughts. The way he keeps trying to touch my hand and be closer to me makes me wonder if he likes me. Sometimes he acts jolly, but I just brush it off - or do I? Maybe he treats everyone with the same kindness he shows me. As I lay there, my heart raced faster and faster, and a tingling feeling spread through my body. Could it be that I like him? No, that can't be right. Maybe he just makes me incredibly happy, which makes me feel happy too - that makes sense, doesn't it? Or perhaps he simply worries about me a lot. Ash is really confusing me! I thought to myself, feeling a sudden surge of anger that quickly dissipated. I touched my lips, remembering that I drank from the same straw as him. This counts as a kiss doesn't it?that thought made a flirty smirk on my face.

That night, I couldn't sleep. My brain was consumed by thoughts of Ash, and I worried that this obsession might drive me crazy someday.

The next day, I trudged to class, exhausted from a sleepless night. My body and mind felt drained. As I entered the classroom, I noticed Ash sitting at his desk, his expression troubled. I noticed that the guy Anthony was whispering in his ear, their faces inches apart. I felt a surge of annoyance, my frown deepening. Ash didn't seem to notice me approaching, too caught up in his conversation. Just as I reached my desk, Ash suddenly snapped at Anthony, "You better delete that or--!" His anger was palpable, but he quickly composed himself when he saw me standing there, confusion etched on my face.

Anthony smirked, "Well, it seems your girlfriend's here, I better get going." He said as he walked to his desk swinging his phone as so.

Ash ignored him, but I could tell Anthony's comment had struck a nerve.

"What's going on?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

Ash avoided eye contact, his frown deepening, "Don't worry about it."

Ash was very quiet, still mad I think. He kept fidgeting with his pencil and staring at the wall. I could tell something was bothering him. I had a feeling that it was my fault. After second period I noticed that people were staring at him, and glancing at me. I was so confused but I was more worried about Ash. Did I make him mad? Just 17 hours ago we were so happy. I felt a little upset that he didn't talk to me nor look at me. When 3rd hour came I noticed he went over to talk to his friends and they all secretly went to the bathroom together which was weird and suspicious.

*In the bathroom*
(Ash's POV)
"Omfg, what did this guy do?! Now no girl will want to date me! And I'll have a bad reputation! I swear I'm not gay nor will I ever be! What's wrong with him!" I exclaimed, my fingers massaging his forehead as a source of comfort. I was so pissed and frustrated my hands started shaking a bit.

"First of all chill dude, it's clearly edited and photoshopped. The most important question I have is, why did you go eat tacos with out me?! Danny asked in a sad but goofy tone. 

"Because you guys left and you were also sick, sick people can't eat tacos, they need soup." I responded, my tone went down a little.

"Stop talking about tacos!, we need to find a way to make Antony delete that. Danny you still have the photo of him and Teresa?" Beto asked, his pretty nerdy and comes up with ideas real quickly which makes me glad his my friend.

"Yeah duh why wouldn't I have it? I took a screenshot of it" Danny responded in sassy tone.

"Good! Send it to me! Anthony won't see this coming!" Beto said in a exciting and evil tone. I could tell he was planning something devious which put a smile on my face.
He explained the plan to us, we all laughed in agreement. This is gonna be fun, I thought to myself. I quickly noticed that I was no longer mad and felt relieved.

"Beto I own you a big one, your such a good friend!" I said excitedly.

"Well, you can pay me with some of them bomb tacos" Beto said.
"Wait what about me?!" Danny asked in an offended tone but goofed around.
I just smiled at them as Beto dragged Danny out of the bathroom.
I had to wash my face with cold water to calm down my embarrassment and anger. I stayed there lost in thought for another five minutes. My anger has calmed down and I went back to class.

*In class*

(Charlie's POV)

My eyes widened when I saw Ash come back I thought he was gonna skip class. he noticed me and threw me a smile, I smiled back in response. I was relieved that he wasn't mad anymore. I was so relieved I even fell asleep during class, enjoying Ash's voice as he talked to his friends again. His voice is a melody to my ears, his laugh especially. The bells rang and I brought my head up, my eyes blinded by the ceiling lights. I saw Ash in front of me holding out his hand, almost like he wanted me to follow him. I got up and noticed that he was holding my backpack and also holding his. I was too sleepy to notice people staring at us in the hallways. I looked down to see Ash gently grabbing my wrist as we walked somewhere.

"Where are we going?" I asked confusedly as my brain got back to reality.

"You'll see!" Ash responded in a happy tone.

Before I knew, we were in a storage room. It was really quiet there a bit creepy too and the yellow lightning didn't help at all. It was usually warm due to the fact that storage rooms don't have heaters.

"You can sleep here, you look really tired and sleepy. " Ash said with a smile.
I smiled in response.
"Don't worry I'll be quiet" Ash said as he took a seat on the floor next to the wall.
I sat next to him which made him look at me but my eyes were already close so he couldn't bother me.

When I woke up I noticed that I was leaning on Ash who was leaning on the corner of the wall asleep. My cheeks flushed red seeing him and being so close to him. Turns out I wasn't the only one who was sleepy. I chuckled when I noticed him holding his phone, an overplayed video still on. I took a photo of him to remember this moment before gently shaking him to wake him up , his eyes slowly opening. His half open eyes stared into mines. We held eye contact for a few seconds before he turned around to check the time and massage the red spot the wall left on him.

"Phew we still have a few minutes" Ash said, his voice raspy and quiet from just waking up.

"How was your nap, sleeping beauty?" Ash asked as he turned to look at me.

"How was yours, Shrek?" I asked in a goofy tone.

"It was alright, could of been better if I didn't had someone putting their weight on me" Ash said goofily.

I stared at him with a sad face

"I'm just joking, it was actually pretty lovely" Ash said worrying that he made have hurt my feelings.

I'm not upset about that but rather worried about why were you so mad earlier... Was it my fault?" I asked while looking down at the floor.

"Oh no it wasn't. Well... You know that we went to eat tacos together... Well... Someone took a photo of us and are spreading rumors that we're dating." Ash said in an upset tone.
"But don't worry about I'll fix it!" Ash said in a determined way.

It was clear that I was wrong all this time, Ash doesn't like me. It would be a lie if I said that those words didn't hurt a bit.He sounded so upset about those rumors.